N.C. Republican activist resigns after Voter ID remarks

Oct. 25, 2013
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by Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

by Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

After bragging in a TV interview that the state's Voter ID regulations would "kick the Democrats in the butt," and after making reference to "lazy blacks that want the government to give them everything," a North Carolina conservative activist has stepped down from his Republican Party post.

Don Yelton made the decision to leave after the Buncome County GOP asked him to resign his position as a precinct chairman, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. Yelton made the comments on Wednesday's edition of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show on television, setting off a firestorm of reaction in social media land.

Yelton told the Citizen-Times that in spite of the circumstances, he would not change anything, and he refused to apologize.

"There's nothing I said that I would take back â?? so be it," Yelton told the news organization.

Voter ID laws, which require would-be voters to present identification when registering to vote and/or when voting, have been criticized as damaging to Democratic voters who are more likely not to have identification.

"The law is going to kick the Democrats in the butt," Yelton told Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi. "If it hurts a bunch of college kids too lazy to get up off their bohonkas and go get a photo ID, so be it. If it hurts a bunch of whites, so be it."

Yelton also said, "If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that want the government to give them everything, so be it."

The Buncombe County GOP released a statement via Facebook denouncing Yelton's comments, calling them "outrageous and intolerant" and indicating North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope was calling for Yelton's resignation.

"The North Carolina Republican Party finds the comments made by Mr. Yelton to be completely inappropriate and highly offensive," the statement read. "I would like to make it very clear that Mr. Yelton does not speak for either the Buncombe County Republcan Party or the North Carolina Republican Party."

Buncombe County GOP chairman Henry Mitchell echoed those comments, according to Politico.

"Let me make it very clear, Mr. Yelton's comments do not reflect the belief or feelings of Buncombe Republcians, nor do they mirror any core principle that our party is founded upon," Mitchell said in a statement. "this mentality will not be supported or propagated within our party."